Tony Abbott must tackle big policy challenges

Peter Reith

Despite the media’s obsession with Clive Palmer last week, Tony Abbott had a very good week of his own. He will soon achieve the four big promises made in the 2013 election. The boats have been largely stopped, the carbon tax will soon be repealed, the mining tax will go and Abbott will be the infrastructure Prime Minister. Palmer was always going to vote down the carbon tax. The rest of last week’s carbon debate was short term, peripheral and covered by the Al Gore stunt.

History is more likely to remember the Abbott changes whereas Palmer will be lucky if anyone even remembers the stunts.

My experience is that stunts by MPs undermine credibility. Clive might think that stunts worked for his mentor Joh Bjelke-Petersen but Brisbane is not Canberra. Admittedly, the Canberra press gallery used Pauline Hanson to attack John Howard and could do so again but the tactic ran out of steam eventually. And it will with Palmer as well.

Tasmanian MPs have been a bit prone to stunts: I assume this is because with so many senators it's hard to get mentioned in the local papers. I think it was Max Burr who put his head into the jaws of a lion and got a front-page photo for his daring. My first and probably last stunt was to offer $100 to the first person to produce a forged Identity card. I was opposing Labor's plan for identity cards. A man in the US had fallen out of a plane carrying multiple forged cards. I thought my offer was a good way to make a point until the next day in The Australian Financial Review a journalist observed that I was following Wilson Tuckey’s modus operandi. That was not what I wanted to hear.

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In the final analysis, only good policy can overwhelm peripheral players, even ones who have the numbers to prevent policy implementation. Good policy really only comes to light when there are strong voices to put the case. The late Ray Evans, outside the parliament, was one such person. Another, in the parliament as a lone voice, was the late Bert Kelly who built his profile and consequent public respect by the force of his arguments.

While Liberal Party presidents are not often seen and even less heard, the better ones in the past, like John Elliott, left a positive mark on policy. I particularly remember Elliott’s support for the Coalition’s campaign against Labor’s 1988 constitutional referendums.

The new party president, Richard Alston, is a good man. It's been many years since a Liberal president had the savvy and experience to speak up for the rank and file Liberal membership. The party organisation has to have some life of its own; otherwise it becomes the plaything of the parliamentary party. Of course, much of what it says must be behind closed doors but it should not be so silent that the party is deprived of its voice. A party president who only ever agrees with the leader and is never heard is not serving the party.

Fortunately, in recent years, party vice-presidents such as Tom Harley (re-elected last weekend) have stood up on issues such as local government recognition and party funding. The party should never have a policy veto but the party is entitled to be consulted. If there had been more consultation in recent times, some poor decisions might have been avoided.

The problem of the 2013 election manifesto was that it did not offer enough. The four big promises may now be fulfilled but, although useful, they don’t give the economy the shot in the arm it needs in the way that labour market reform or tax reform or welfare reform would have done. So now the government is promising the bigger reforms, all of which will be put to the electorate at the 2016 election.

Alston has always been good on policy. He could do the Liberal Party a real service if he could be active on policy through the party committee system. In January 1999, Alston, then communications minister, called for changes to Australia's capital gains tax regime. He was proposing a benefit for new and emerging information technology businesses. Alston limited his comments to his portfolio but his advocacy was just as relevant to the rest of the economy.

Alston should put his point again. He would have support from MPs such as Dr Peter Hendy and small business. Advocating the slashing of CGT would not only be welcomed by the Liberal rank and file, it could be a winner in the next federal election. With difficult reforms like welfare and tax changes, Tony Abbott could do with some good policies that are also popular with the Liberal base.

Peter Reith was a minister on the Howard government and is a Fairfax columnist.

98 comments so far

Yet to see an iota of good policy from this crazy Government. When they get some maybe we should talk again.

Commenter

GOV

Location

Sydney

Date and time

July 01, 2014, 1:42AM

GOV

I agree the Abbott government seems to still be suffering from Kangaroo in spotlight syndrome ever since they came to government,

Guess that's what happens when you go into an election in a policy vacuum and using catching and emotive three word slogans.

Sure there are challenges in the economy not just domestically but globally too however a harsh unjust and unfair budget is not the way to go, there are ways of doing things and there are ways of doing things it is crystal clear that the Abbott government does not know how to do anything.

Commenter

Buffalo Bill

Location

Sydneys Northshore

Date and time

July 01, 2014, 6:53AM

Sometimes I think Reithy is a Labor sleeper agent. It seems everything he says and writes just drives the average person away from the LNP. Sorry if I've outed you Peter, but you can always deny it, as I don't have any hard evidence, and I'm happy for you to continue.

Commenter

Tin

Date and time

July 01, 2014, 7:25AM

Tin, strange you should say that about Reith being a sleeper agent because I believe he carried out that role during the republic debate.

Commenter

lgs

Location

Brisbane

Date and time

July 01, 2014, 8:21AM

Buff, Gov and Tin - we must have read different articles - the one i'm reading starts by talking about Abbott being close to achieving four of the major election commitments he made.

But on stunts - the article reminds me of some of the stunts we saw last election. Wasn't the Navy moving to Brisbane at one point, and Labor also promised to repeal the carbon tax.

Rudd said last July "The Government has decided to terminate the carbon tax to help cost-of-living pressures for families and to reduce costs for small business, this is the fiscally responsible thing to do."

Did he mention this to Bill in the handover notes ?

Commenter

Hacka

Location

Canberra

Date and time

July 01, 2014, 8:25AM

Cant wait for the LNP to be kicked out.I am enjoying my free ride...Why work when I can enjoy the good life on the back of the ALP.Peter Reith's column is post on but hey since the Medicine is in to hard basket by the normal voter ..I am going to sit back and enjoy the ride.It will not be me having to pay it all back as I am in my Twilight years.

Commenter

john

Date and time

July 01, 2014, 8:51AM

Agree GOV & Buffalo Bill - but I'm yet to see this government behave like the ''adults'' they continually claimed to be. Reith's statement: ''History is more likely to remember the Abbott changes...'' - is SO TRUE - but not in the way that he or the LNP intended. With every action there is a reaction. The Abbott government will be consigned to the dustbin of History for failing to act swiftly and decisively with protecting the Australian people from the consequences of climate change.

Commenter

Jump

Date and time

July 01, 2014, 9:12AM

Abbott is keeping some of his promises and abandoning many. The ones that he is abandoning are the main ones that allowed him to be elected.

Commenter

Good Logic

Date and time

July 01, 2014, 9:24AM

Unfortunately his "four big promises" and his 29 broken promises collectively will greatly damage our future. Yep, his policies will be remembered all right; hopefully that picture of the clowns celebrating the destruction of action on climate change will be one for posterity. In 5, 10, 20 years time as the problem worsens we can point to it and say 'this was the moment an Australian Government won a battle that fundamentally and permanently damaged Australia in the interests of big business'.

Commenter

jofek

Date and time

July 01, 2014, 9:25AM

Abbott will be standing right behind Billy McMahon in "the greatest PM ever" stakes. McMahon is principally remembered for his ears and his wife's dress. Abbott only has the ears.

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